Apple & Beetroot

The obsession with vegetable cakes continues... recently we had some gorgeous golden beetroot and Local Greens recommended trying these apple and beetroot muffins. The golden veg has a delicious sweet flavour and, alongside the apple, goes incredibly well with the spices. As with the courgette and parsnip cakes, the beetroot keeps the cake moist. The recipe is very simple so whether you can a golden beet or the more conventional red one, give it a go!

Parsnip & Ginger

These days I don't even bat an eyelid when I hear about a vegetable being utilised in a sweet cake. Over the past year it has been a theme or a challenge to try the less usual - courgette, beetroot and now parsnip. To say I am obsessed with the Edinburgh bakery Lovecrumbs is an enormous underestimate; I almost squeal with delight when a new picture is posted on their Instagram feed. The parsnip and ginger cake was one such occasion and immediately afterwards I hunted down this recipe from Baking Mad. The parsnips came from our weekly veg bag - which we are really enjoying. I was in a bit of a rush to make the cake this weekend and made the mistake of not reading the recipe fully before I start. See the egg picture above: I should have melted the butter first, so ended up straining out the egg (which I saved for an omelette last night), melting the butter and re-adding fresh eggs. Faff!

To the cake: it's delicious! Give it a go! The parsnips make the sponge light and the ginger in the cake and icing give it a fantastic spicy kick. My work colleagues today devoured it, which must be a great sign. So... which vegetable next?

Chocolate & Beetroot

I had an urge to bake last week and so I went back to a recipe I have been tempted by for a long while. I like to try more unusual flavour combinations, like the courgette cake, and this time it was Nigel Slater’s chocolate beetroot cake. The beetroot flavour is there but very subtle and the cake itself is rich and moist. The recipe is very easy to follow but make sure you have an electric whisk to hand – soft peaks takes a long time with a hand whisk! Mum and Dad popped over on Sunday and enjoyed their slice, and Dan won’t let me take the rest to work… so it must be good!

All Green

Steph, Fi and I went back to Garson's Farm this week - beans, raspberries, broccoli, kohl rabi, cauliflower, courgettes. I'm going to get onto the jam making this weekend!

Australia Day

Lamington's by me. Anzacs by Leah. Vegemite and beetroot cob. Curried egg on bread. Our Australia day feast!

Los Organopónicos

              

My love for Cuba - even though I have never been there - gets stronger every time I read or watch something about the country. I'm able to write about my wildly keen interest in urban agriculture for my dissertation, and I'm currently thinking about doing a comparison between Cuban and British food production and in the city. The situation in Havana and other cities on the island has stemmed from the end of support of the Soviet Union - a case of having to grow your own. Yet it has gone from strength to strength and now is a part of the everyday cityscape and daily lives of the people with strong support from the government. In the UK, on the otherhand, there is no such encouragement and urban farm schemes rely on associations lacking in funds. We still rely on the supermarkets and the food that has flown thousands of miles to get to us. So let the investigations commence!

Images from Sustainable Cities, Denmark and video from 'Around the World in 80 Gardens' (BBC 2008) on YouTube

Farm Yard

Architecture is back in full swing. CAD, modelling, reading, research, teaching even... there's no rest for the wicked. I'm collecting together sources for my dissertation and I think this video might just be useful. I think I'm going to look at urban agriculture and food production in the city, so I've been saving videos on Vimeo to get started.

Video from chow.com

Glorious Grub

I've really enjoyed getting back into cooking since moving into the flat. I baked honey cake and Emma made us a delicious vegetable and noodle soup. Don't worry mothers, we're eating well!

Nasturtium Seeds

This weekend I moved up to Manchester. Lucy and I have a week of getting sorted and exploring the city before the work begins on our Part II course. Today we went for shop and came across the Hulme Community Garden Centre not far at all from where we live. The enthusiastic people there gave us some nasturtium and calendula seeds and a choice of fruit and veg for a small donation. It seems like a great community hub in an area that has been regenerated in recent years but, at first glance, lacks some personality. They do courses and encourage volunteers so with my current enthusiasm with urban agriculture it could be something great to be involved with.

Wowee Weather

Raining, scorching... the British summer has gone mad! The veg are liking it in the garden though and the chickens are as boisterous as ever.

Technology & Gardens

Today Claire and I went for a wander around London south of the river. First we saw my friend Nick's final year exhibition, Made In Brunel. In the Bargehouse warehouse under the Oxo tower there was some fantastic work from all realms industrial design, engineering, futures - there was both simple and ergonomic design as well as innovative industry specialist work. After lunch we wandered through Borough Market, I bought some gooseberry and elderflower jam and spotted some mini gourmet radishes! Lastly we headed to the launch day of the Urban Physic Garden on Union Street, were we sat and sipped at cider in the sun and absorbed to beautiful smells of the medicinal plants all around us.

Physic Garden

Last summer I was really really keen to go and visit the Union Street Urban Orchard which I did towards the end of its stint. I thought the idea of using an undeveloped space to grow fruit and veg, collect seeds and brew cider was great and I was so keen to get involved. Unfortunately it looks like I have missed out on helping out at this years Urban Physic Garden looking more into the medicinal side of plants. I'm definitely going to go along to visit!
Image from Urban Physic Garden